Three series of books came to mind immediately, when I read through this thread: The entire "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which resulted in a Little House Cookbook; the Kay Scarpetta novels, by Patricia Cornwell, also resulting in an actual cookbook featuring menus and food from the series, and lastly....J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books!

Who hasn't wanted a tankard of Pumpkin Juice or Butter Beer? Or Chocolate Frogs, which "only have one good jump in them, anyways?" And, fiction turned into reality, Berty Bot's Every Flavour Bean! I've had the dirt, vomit and other flavours; I can testify that YES!, they do taste like the real thing!_________________Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

Sally and I were on vacation in Wisconsin and there was a Jelly Belly factory tour close to us; our hotel gave us comp tickets to the factory. It was so much fun, plus the samples, too! But, it was the Bertie Bott Beans that I bought that was the most memorable bit of the tour. Sally wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, but I sniffed and sampled them all, including ear wax. I must say, who ever has that job, of nailing the tastes....I don't envy them! _________________Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

I was fortunate (?) to have an entire box of those jelly beans to myself. We bought a few boxes for my friend's nephew's 8th birthday party! A BIG hit with the boys.......although they wouldn't touch the barf flavoured beans

I was amazed at the grass and black pepper flavours! The ear wax tasted like ear wax smells.....hmmmm. Didn't touch the barf ones either! lol._________________In the whorehouses of the bakeries, I was serially, gluttonously, irredeemably unfaithful to all those chapatis-next-door waiting for me back home. East was East, but yeast was West.

Another book is Like Water for Chocolate, though I've forgotten the author. Each chapter has a description of a dish and includes a recipe.

There's also Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. There are such evocative stories and so many of them describe dishes, complete with all the memories surrounding them.

I'm in the midst of reading Proust these days too...and craving madeleines ever since.

Another evocative writer is Mario Puzo who has wonderful descriptions of big Italian feasts. I definitely plan on recreating one of those when I have a kitchen that can support it._________________Don't forget the cannolis!

I believe I've seen several cookbooks, supposedly based food from famous books of famous writers: A table with Balzac, aA table with Zola ( ???!!!, don't remember what they ate in Germinal..), A table with Freud ( Oh my God!), A table with Proust ( which I have), and some others i don't remember. I'll be in paris at the end of June and I'll look in the book section of the FNAC.
And a-propos Proust, we are going to stay in Umbria ( next week) in a little village, in a B&B , where we will stay in the "Marcel proust" suite. The nice owners promised madeleines for breakfast...LadyA, aimez-vous Proust?

I'm impressed that some of you are reading Proust. I've tried twice and failed both times.

I'm currently reading Great Expectations and there are many scenes around dinners where the food is discussed. Nothing really intricate, but at least Dickens has our characters eating.

One funny line about convicts discussing the food in prison. It refers to the thought that they could get more flavour in the soup by setting the cell on fire._________________' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

Thanks Sarape for allowing me to admit that I too cannot get through Proust! And I a bookseller!! It is however not so much the writing as the characters that make me stop. Insufferable whiny bourgeois pompous twits----and I just cannot bear them._________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

I'll allow myself to join the club of Proust non-lovers. And madeleines are overrated vanilla flavoured pound cake, nice for a coffee in the afternoon. But the Proust suite ( a big room actually ) in Toscana looks nice.

Just last month I started Remembrances... again. After 30 pages I said:

"This is a complete waste of time."

Ulysses is one thing, but not Proust.

However, I am impressed that some people can read and enjoy Proust.

Great Expectations is a surprisingly good book. Of course, most of us read it in high school. But, that was 30 years ago for me._________________' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

I've been reading Proust for the past 5 years.... a few pages at a time....which is why it is taking me so long..... and I forget who some of the characters are. However at the back of the final book there is list of the characters and their relationships which helps. Every now and again you will come across a page of prose that is so overwhelming, it makes the long read worthwhile.

Simona - I know the series you mean and I have Renoirs Table. I make a wonderful tomato dish from the book which is actually a recipe from Cezanne enjoyed by the Renoir family._________________Barbara

(cheekily he added) Well if one takes the French title and translates it literally it does come out as Remembrance of Times Lost, which is what I feel about the time I spent reading it _________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

But I also keep my own "foodbook". Small books in which I write down all eveningmeals. Just the date, what we had for dinner (without the recipie) and where and with who.
I have done that for years and years. The books travel with me wherever I go. Fun is that you can see the changes in your eating habits over the years.
Also, when I have no inspiration at all I just look op the same day one or two or more years ago and make the same meal that I made in an other year.

Hundred or more years from now someone will find these books and will probably have a lot of fun with them !

Cornette_________________x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"The only time to eat diet food is while your waiting for the steak to cook"
Julia Child